Combination boll-breaker and spreader-roller



A ril 5, 1966 R. M. SHELBURNE 3,243,852

COMBINATION BOLL-BREAKER AND SPREADER-ROLLER Filed May 20, 1963 3Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGJ.

, FIG 2 INVENTOR.

RICHARD M. SHELBURNE R. M. SHELBURNE 3,243,852

COMBINATION BOLL-BREAKER AND SPREADER-ROLLER April 5, 1966 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 20, 1963 INVENTOR.

BY RICHARD M. SHELBURNE April 1966 R. M. SHELBLJRNE 3,243,852

COMBINATION BOLL-BREAKER AND SPREADER-ROLLER Filed May 20, 1965 3Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

RICHARD M. SHELBURNE United States Patent 3,243,852 COMBINATIGNBOLL-BREAKER AND SPREADER-ROLLER Richard M. Shelburne, Sherman, Tex.,asslgnor to l-Iardwicke-Etter Company, Sherman, Tex., a corporation ofTexas Filed May 20, 1963, Ser. No. 281,688 4 Claims. (Cl. 19-38) Thepresent invention relates to apparatus for increasing the effectivenessof the various units of equipment in 'a cotton ginning system. The novelequipment described herein is referred to as a combination boll breakerand spreader roller, because it will function to improve, for subsequentoperations in the system, the condition of cotton containing unopened orpartially opened bolls, as well as cotton stalk in the form of longsticks. Accordingly, the apparatus is of particular usefulness as thefirst unit of machinery in a ginning system, in that the operations ofall of the subsequent processing machinery are improved. However, itwill be obvious that the novel equipment described herein, may beusefully employed at other positions in the ginning system, particularlywhere it is desired to spread out the cotton entering a unit, from theconventional cylindrical conveying conduits which are employed inginning systems. As indicated, the equipment described herein isparticularly useful in first acting upon machine-stripped cotton which,due to the modern methods employed to collect same, often containsquantities of unopened bolls etc., which need to be opened in order toexpose the locks of cotton to the processing machinery, and in order toavoid losing these locks of cotton in the form of waste.

In addition to spreading the cotton, as mentioned, the equipmentdescribed herein also breaks up wads of cotton, which result from aclinging together of the cotton, due to excessive moisture content. Suchwads are particularly prevalent in machine-picked cotton, and if theyare permitted to pass on into the various processing units in theginning system, the result may be choking of the machinery and frequentbreakdowns. Again, even if such cotton does pass through the system, itmay be poorly ginned and the resulting rough lint appearance may causesevere price penalties on the market. The application of the apparatusdescribed herein, as the first unit in the ginning system, will serve toeliminate these wads, whereby all of the other units will be able toperform more efiectively.

The problem existing in the art, is at least partially related in Patent2,681,474 to Steele of June 22, 1954, wherein a boll breaker apparatusis described having blades which are moving with the direction of cottonfeed, the major part of the cotton being fed through the lower part ofthe machine, moving in the direction of movement of the blades. Whilethe Steele patent is addressed to substantially the same problem, itdoes not provide the violent boll and stalk breaking functions ofapplicants invention, which results from the rapid deceleration of themovement of the cotton, and a radical change in its direction ofmovement, nor does the Steele apparatus serve to spread the cotton out,for uniform entry into the next unit of the system, such as theseparator, as is provided for in the use of applicants equipment.

The need for the present invention is particularly acute under presentday methods, where high capacities are being reached in ginning plantsor systems with supercharge type suction fans being employed to pull amuch higher vacuum and to induce a much greater volume of cotton intothe separator of the system. When using a high vacuum, as in present dayunloading systems at a cotton gin, the velocity of the material goingthrough round pipe and into the separator is so great that it has "icevery little opportunity to spread out to the full width of theseparator. As a result, the bulk of the cotton and other material may beconcentrated in the center of the separator, and if a great volume ofmaterial is being fed, a choked condition will result. If the bulk ofthe cotton is fed into the middle of the separator, undue wear will *beproduced on both the screen and the vacuum flights in the separator.Again, the next unit in line, receiving cotton from the separator, willnot be properly fed. It will be apparent from consideration of thepresent invention, that the rapid decreasing of the velocity of theincoming cotton, and the spreading of this material across the fullwidth of the separator, will result in an increased capacity for theseparator. v

To accomplish the above purpose, I have provided a unit of equipment,which may be associated with other units of a ginning system, which hasa housing with a rapidly rotating shaft therein and with beating andspreading blades arranged in a particular manner on the shaft, the inletfor the material being disposed in offset relation from the axis of theshaft and in such manner as to discharge the incoming material directlyagainst the blades which are moving at high speed in the oppositedirection. As a result of this arrangement, the delivered material,which is moving at high speed, has its movement rapidly decelerated andbrought to a stop, and has its direction of movement radically altered,with the result that bolls and stalks are thoroughly broken up. At thesame time, the inlet is designed to be of width substantially less thanthe width of the housing to which it leads, and this together wit-h thearrangement of flights of blades on the shaft in the housing extendingfrom the center in opposite spirals, serves to separate the cotton inits movement through the unit, and while it is 'being subjected tobeating and chopping action from the blades, in order to condition thematerial for delivery to succeeding units in the system.

The equipment described herein is suitable for use in systems where thematerial is delivered into the system at a velocity as great as 4,000 to5,000 feet per minute. The unit may be built in various lengths such as50 'to connect with a 50" separator, or to connect with a 70" separatorbut it will be understood that the equipment described herein may beused in other places in a ginning system, where the cotton is beingtransferred from one machine or unit to another by round pipes by theuse of high velocity air moving the material through the pipes. Forinstance, it may be used where the cotton is passing from a round pipewith heated air into a tower' timer, or where it is passing from thetower drier to a rgpnd pipe, to a cleaner or to a stick and green leafmac ne.

In addition to the Steele Patent 2,681,474, previously mentioned,applicant is, of course, aware of disclosures in the art of bollbreakers and the like, for use in cotton handling systems, as typifiedby such patents as Munger, 1,311,907 and Kinn'e, 1,186,798.

According to the invention, a new and improved apparatus of thecharacter described is provided for decreasing the velocity of thecotton being fed into the separator and efiiciently distributing thecotton across the full width of the separator so that its capacity isgreatly increased. Apparatus according to this invention is alsooperative to break the cotton which is particularly moist and tends tocling together to thereby enhance the ginning operation, in a notablyimproved manner. This apparatus is adapted to accommodate unopened andpartially opened bolls and sticks so as to minimize Waste and otherwisebreak the Patented Apr. 5, 1966 s ginning installation), the housingcarrying a shaft having oppositely spiralled, radially extending flatplates, the direction of shaft rotation, the geometric position of theshaft relative to the inlet of the housing and the close positioning ofthe housing walls relative to the shaft serving to spread the cotton andotherwise prepare the same for efficient ginning.

The objects, advantages, and novel features of the present inventionwill become apparent in the specification and claims, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an end elevation view of the apparatus according to thisinvention connected to a separator in a ginning installation.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view of the equipment looking inwardly fromthe left of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged side elevation view, partially broken out, ofthe apparatus according to this invention.

FIGURE 4 is a partial transverse elevation view, with the casingpartially broken away, looking inwardly from the outlet or dischargeside of the casing of the bollbreaker and spreader-roller which is thesubject of the invention.

FIGURE 5 is a detail view of the shaft and blade structure.

FIGURE 6 is an end view of the shaft and blade assembly, lookinginwardly from the right end of FIGURE 5 FIGURE 7 is a developed viewshowing the position of the blades on the shaft.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in diagrammatic fashion aconventional separator 10 which usually constitutes the first unit in aginning systemor installation, the separator 10 having the usual vacuumwheel 12 and high velocity air suction means 14. The separator 10 may beconnected in a system which includes sequential apparatus for drying,cleaning, ginning, lint cleaning, condensing, tamping and finallypressing the ginned cotton. For instance, the separator 10 may bemounted over a steady flow bin, where suflicient material accumulates toprovide an even feed for the remainder of the system, and as is wellknown in the art, hot air may be provided to carry the cotton forwardthrough such as a tower dried, cleaner, stick or burr machine, dried,cleaner, distributor, gin battery, lint cleaners, lint flue, condenser,and thence to the tramper and press.

The separator 10 has an inlet duct as at 16 which is of generallyrectangular configuration and extends across substantially the entirewidth of the machine, the axis of this inlet duct being disposed in agenerally horizontal plane. There is provided a combination boll breakerand spreader generally indicated at. 18 and a transition duct 20 whichis adapted to deliver cotton from a conventional circular duct accordingto the principles of the present invention. The boll breaker andspreader 18 comprises a housing preferably of sheet metal constructionand formed with an inlet opening 24 (FIG. 3), and an oppositely disposedoutlet opening 26 connected as by a flange joint 28 to the inlet duct 16of the separator 10. The Width of the housing between its opposed endwalls 30 and 32, as well as the configuration of the housing outlet 26corresponds to the inlet duct 16 of the separator 10 for reasons tobecome evident.

The housing carries a spreader shaft 34 which is joined at its ends tothe opposed end walls 30, 32 in sealed ball bearing units 36 carried byeach end wall 30, 32, as shown for instance, in FIGURE 4. These sealedbearing units 36 are constructed to form an air-tight joint between theshaft 34 and the end walls 30, 32, using fiber washers 37 and collars38. The shaft 34 between the end walls 30, 32 is of enlarged hexagonalcross-sectional configuration, providing flat surfaces 35 to which arewelded the opposed blade sets 39a, 3%, as illustrated in FIGURE 5 andalso in FIGURE 6. In this regard, the symmetric center of the shaft 34(between the walls 30, 32) carries the blades 39 in continuous,symmetric and oppositely spiralled relationship as will be understoodfrom FIG- URE 7, which is a developed pattern of the blades 39 along thehexagonal shaft surface. Each blade 39 is in the form of a flat,generally rectangular plate of a substantial width so that, in thedeveloped form shown in FIGURE 7, substantially the entire developedsurface of the spreader shaft 34 is embraced by an effective bladesurface.

The spreader unit described in effect comprises an open type cylinder ofabout 16" diameter including x 1% steel blades welded to the heavyshaft. The blades are welded on an angle and not in planes transverse tothe axis of rotation of the cylinder. The blades are welded in a doublespiral arrangement, starting at the center of the shaft, the flight ofblades toward one end of the shaft being right-hand while the flight ofblades toward the other end of the shaft is left-hand. By mounting theblades at an angle with respect to planes transverse to the axis ofrotation of the shaft, they will strike the material entering theirpaths of rotation, and the material will be deflected by them to oneside. Because the blades are spirally arranged, as material is deflectedby one of the blades, it comes into contact with the next bladefollowing, and will be further deflected from its normal path. By reasonof the fact that one flight of blades deflects the material in onedirection, and the other half deflects the material in the otherdirection, the material which enters the housing centrally thereof, isdivided and spread out to the full length of the cylinder. Thisspreading out action can be controlled by the speed at which thecylinder is rotated.

Preferably, each blade 39 is joined by welding with its lower endcoextensive with a flat part of the hexagonal shaft surface. Such ahexagonal shaft surface facilitates joining the blades by welding andotherwise provides a structurally sound arrangement capable of heavyduty over substantial periods of time. The opposite free end of eachblade 39 is inclined in a downward direction away from the direction ofshaft rotation (clockwise as viewed in FIGURES 2 and 3), this angle A ofinclination being about 15. The extreme outer ends of the blades mayturn in a circle Which is as close as /8" to the top and bottom portionsof the surrounding casing.

The housing is constructed and arranged to receive this assembledspreader shaft 34 so that a minimum tolerance is provided beween theupper ends of the blades and the adjacent interior surface of thehousing. Thus, as shown in FIGURE 3, the bottom housing wall 46 issmoothly curved from the inlet opening 24, thence terminating with aflat surface 42 which smoothly extends to the housing outlet opening 26.Likewise, the upper part of the housing 44 adjacent the outlet opening26 is curved with a concentric, close relationship to the ends of theblades 39. The remaining part of the housing is conveniently formed withright angled top and side plates 46, 48, respectively, all of thesesheet metal parts being joined to one another by any suitable means suchas flange bolt joints 50. The end walls 36, 32 of the housing aremounted at the opposite ends of the lawer, upper and front peripheralwalls 42, 46, 48 of the housing. The inlet opening 24 of the housing issubstantially shorter than the length of the side plate 48 andpreferably embraces one-half this distance in symmetric relationshipwith the end walls 30, 32, as shown in FIGURE 1. Thus, the inlet feed iscentral of the length of the shaft and housing.

The transition duct 20 is of generally frustro-conical configurationhaving a rectangular base end 52 connected to the inlet opening 24 by aflange-bolt joint 56, the opposite apex end of this transition duct 20(FIGURE 2) being of the usual circular configuration 58 and adapted tobe connected by any suitable means to a circular conveying duct (notshown).

According to one important feature of the present invention, the axis Aof the transition duct 20 and inlet opening 24 is positioned at rightangles to and above the axis of the spreader shaft 34, this axis A;intersecting a vertical plane passing through the axis of the spreadershaft 34 at substantially right angles. Such arrangement allows theincoming cotton to receive the full effect of the entire upper part ofthe blades 39 when the shaft 34 is rotated in a clockwise direction asviewed in FIG- URES 2 and 3. The advantage of this arrangement is twofold: the increased area of the transition du'ct serves to reduce theincoming velocity of the cotton entering the housing; and, the beaterblades tend to reduce the horizontal component of velocity tosubstantially zero, while substantially reversing the direction ofmovement of the cotton and thereafter forcing the cotton downwardlytowards the bottom housing wall 40. When this takes place, theoppositely spiralled configuration of the blade sets 39a, 39bdistributes the cotton outwardly in an even pattern along the length ofthe housing and shaft so that when the cotton is discharged through thehousing outlet 26 and into the separator 10, there is provided an evenlateral distribution of cotton with the advantages previously described.A unique feature of the unit described, and which is most important toits proper functioning is the tact that the inlet opening 24 is locatedat the top of the unit, whereby the rapidly'moving'material is thrownagainst the rotation of the cylinder and its blades. That is, the'centerof the inlet opening is above the center of rotation of the shaft. Theheavy blades on the shaft, with their spiral arrangement, serve to haltthe tremendous speed of material as it enters, and any wads of cottonwhich may be present are broken up by the angular slicing action of theblades, while the material is spread along the full length of the shaftand housing. The speed of the cylinder in the housing, coupled with thevelocity of movement of the material entering the housing, results insuch impact that any unopened or partially opened bolls will be openedby the impact, and the chopping action of the blades will break up anylong stalks that may be in the material which is delivered to thehousing.

The shaft 34 is driven by an electric motor 60, this motor being mountedat either end of the machine on an L-shaped bracket 62 (FIGURE 3) whichis, in turn, joined to the top of the housing via a vertical bracket 64and an inverted channel-shaped bracket 66. The shaft 63 of the electricmotor 60 transmits drive to the shaft 34 (aligned therewith) via pulleywheels 70, 72 carrying a flexible V-belt 74, or any other suitable drivemay be provided.

While the operation of the instant apparatus is believed to be evident,the same will be summarized as follows: Incoming cotton passing throughthe transition duct 20 carried by air at a velocity in the order of4000-5000 feet per minute is slowed down by the expanding size of thetransition duct 20. The shaft 34 which is rotating at a speed on theorder of 500l000 revolutions per minute in a clockwise direction (asviewed in FIGURE 3) strikes this incoming cotton and reduces itsvelocity substantially to zero and radically changes its direction oftravel. It is important to note that the night angular relationshipbetween the path of incoming cotton relative to a vertical plane passingthrough the shaft 34 enables the horizontal component of velocity to bestopped and the cotton is sharply and forcibly spread apart along thewidth of the housing, deflecting along its underside due to the closetolerance with the adjacent housing wall 40, and is then forcedoutwardly through the housing outlet opening 26 and into the separatoracross substantially the entire width of the housing. After the materialleaves the spreader unit, it may be further spread by the action of theangularly disposed blades which tend to fan and force the cotton leavingthe housing out to a greater spread length of the unit itself.

While the invention has been described as being'particularly adapted forassembly with the cotton separator, it is capable of use at otherstations in the ginning installation For example, the boll breaker andspreader 18 can be assembled to feed cotton into the gins or to move thecotton into a tower drier, or to a stick and green leaf machine. Wherethe boll breaker and spreader of this invention is used in a ginningsystem, at any point, it will be understood that any suitable by-passarrangement may be provided, as is known in the art, to cut the unit inor to cut it out of the system, depending upon the condition of thecotton and the need tor the particular type of processing which isprovided by the unit.

From the above description, it will be understood that this combinationboll breaker and spreader unit will solve three of the major problemswhich are present in high capacity or gin systems today. First, itdecreases the velocity of the material entering the separator, which isusually the first unit in a ginning system, and spreads it across thefull width of the separator, thereby allowing the separator to handle alarger volume of material and at the same time, properly fed thatmaterial to the machine which follows the separator in the sequence ofprocessing provided by the system. Second, it break up wads of cottonthat tend to cling together and which are prevalent today inmachine-picked cotton and cotton which contains more than a normalamount of moisture. By breaking up these wads as they enter the firstunit of a ginning system, the driers and other processing units thatfollow, can better perform the functions for which they are intended.Third, the apparatus of the invention serves to break up the longportions of cotton stalk which may be brought in with cotton which ismachine-stripped, and it also tends to open up the unopened andpartially opened bolls of cotton that are prevalent in large quantitiesin both machine stripped and hand-snapped cottons.

From the foregoing descriptions of the various embodiments of thisinvention, it is evident that the objects of this invention, togethermany practical advantages are successively achieved. While preferredembodiments of my invention have been described, numerous furthermodifications may be made without departing from the scope of thisinvention.

It is to be understood that all matters herein set forth or shown in theaccompanying drawings are to be interpreted in an illustrative and notin a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for breaking and spreading cotton comprising: a housinghaving opposed end walls mounted at the opposite ends of means definingupper, lower and front peripheral walls; a spreader shaft carried forrotation by said end walls; spreader lblades mounted on and about saidshaft in oppositely spiralled relationship from the center of said shaftrelative to said end walls, said blades being of flat, generallyrectangular construction and presenting a substantially continuousdeveloped surface along said shaft between said housing end walls, saiddeveloped surface extending obliquely with respect to the longitudinalaxis of said shaft due to said spiralled relationship, an elongatedinlet means along the central region only of said front peripheral wall,a generally frustroconical transition duct joined to said inlet means;the axis of said transit-ion duct and inlet means being transverselyabove the axis of said spreader shaft and generally perpendicular to avertical plane passing through the axis of said spreader shaft; and anoutlet duct defined between said housing upper and lower peripheralwalls opposite from said front peripheral wall extending substantiallythe entire distance between said housing end walls; drive meansoperative to rotate said blades at high speed toward said inlet meansduring their upper path of travel, whereby cotton entering said housingvia said transition duct is abruptly decelerated in its movement and hasthe direction of its travel radically changed and said blades areoperative to spread the cotton across said 7 t housing in asubstantially even pattern for discharge via said outlet duct.

2. Apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said spreader shaft is ofpolygonal configuration, and said flat blades are welded at their innerends to consecutive surfaces of said polygonal shaft.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive means includes anelectric motor mounted on a bracket at one end of said housing, wherebysaid housing forms a compact unit with said drive means and motor.

4. Apparatus capable of breaking bolls and stalk and for spreading outcottonconveyed through a cylindrical conduit in a cotton ginning system,comprising an elongated housing closed at its ends and having meansdefining upper, lower and front peripheral walls extending between saidends, a rotary shaft extending through the central part of said housing,a plurality of spaced blades mounted on said shaft and of such lengththat their edges move in close proximity to said connected walls, saidblades being arranged in two oppositely spiralled flights extending fromthe center of said shaft towards the ends thereof providing spiral pathsfor movement of the cotton from the center toward the opposite ends ofsaid housing, said housing having a substantially rectangular inletopening delivery with a transition union connected thereto, means forrotating said shaft and said "blades at high speed in said housing, saidinlet being of such size and position as to deliver cotton directlyagainst and in a direction opposite to that of the movement of saidblades,

in a current of air which is moving at high speed, said housing havingan elongated outlet which is of width substantially equal to the lengthof said housing whereby to deliver the spread out cotton to an elongatedinlet of a separator or other unit of a ginning system.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,256,742 2/1918Struen 19--38 1,397,257 11/1921 Stacy 19-38 2,024,469 12/1935 Mitchell55-401 2,681,474 6/1954 Steele 19-38 2,993,237 7/1961 Karkoska 19383,149,065 9/1964 Van Doorn 19-205 X 3,159,880 12/1964 Carpenter 1982DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

D. N. NEWTON, Assistant Examiner.

1. APPARATUS FOR BREAKING AND SPREADING COTTON COMPRISING: A HOUSINGHAVING OPPOSED END WALLS MOUNTED AT THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF MEANS DEFININGUPPER, LOWER AND FRONT PERIPHERAL WALLS; A SPREADER SHAFT CARRIED FORROTATION BY SAID END WALLS; SPREADER BLADES MOUNTED ON AND ABOUT SAIDSHAFT IN OPPOSITELY SPIRALLED RELATIONSHIP FROM THE CENTER OF SAID SHAFTRELATIVE TO SAID END WALLS, SAID BLADES BEING OF FLAT, GENERALLYRECTANGULAR CONSTRUCTION AND PRESENTING A SUBSTANTIALLY CONTINUOUSDEVELOPED SURFACE ALONG SAID SHAFT BETWEEN SAID HOUSING END WALLS, SAIDDEVELOPED SURFACE EXTENDING OBLIQUELY WITH RESPECT TO THE LONGITUDINAALAXIS OF SAID SHAFT DUE TO SAID SPIRALLED RELATIONSHIP, AN ELONGATEDINLET MEANS LAONG THE CENTRAL REGION ONLY OF SAID FRONT PERIPHERAL WALL,A GENERALLY FRUSTROCONICAL TRANSITION DUCT JOINED TO SAID INLET MEANS;THE AXIS OF SAID TRANSISTION DUCT AND INLET MEANS BEING TRANS-